but it lacked so much heart... it seemed like they sat down and said "ok, how do we legitimize eminem as a complete artist/MC and show that there's 'growth' in his music?" and then calculated how to do that... so it turned out pretty solid and achieved those goals, but it lacked the *feeling* MMLP had... "Kim" was straight up gripping (and "Stan" is almost just as great in that aspect) - it really is amazing how he doesn't ever seem like he's stretching for rhymes on story tracks like this, everything sounds like completely natural dialogue... "Bitch Please II," "The Real Slim Shady," "Drug Ballad" and "Who Knew" are more genuinely fun than anything on TES.. "I'm Back" and "The Way I Am" are only a half notch off of "'Till I Collapse" and "Say What You Say" on an MCing/rhyming level.. i dunno, MMLP in a landslide for me

(oh and i see people mentioning TES as Em's lyrical peak and that's def. gotta be Relapse.. and his creative peak on MMLP... stature peak on TES)